One type of panelling has panels which are each formed with a main substantially flat panel portion which has an inturned side portion on each of two opposite sides. One of these side portions has, at its free edge, a rim which is turned inwards and the other side portion has, at its free edge, an arm which is turned away from the one side portion.
These panels are conventionally mounted on carriers which themselves are mounted on a wall or ceiling structure to be clad by the panelling. The flanges of the carriers are conventionally provided with lugs usually all bent down and back parallel to the flanges in the same direction. A panel is mounted with the arm being supported on one lug and the rim on the adjacent lug and the next panel is then introduced so that its arm engages above the rim of the already fitted panel and abuts against the flange, the rim and arm being urged upwardly by the resilience of the lug. This arrangement is generally satisfactory, at least in the short term, in that it provides a pleasant appearance to the panelling, the arm in each case bridging the gap between the main panel portions, so that the carriers cannot be seen.
A problem arises with this construction because, in order to ensure that the panels are held firmly, the lugs are made resilient and urge the panels up against the flanges of the carriers. It will be appreciated that if the panels are removed on one or two occasions to attend to wiring or plumbing or the like behind the panelling, then the lugs will become progressively weakened and experience has shown that very often they tend to snap off. This is, of course, totally unsatisfactory.
However, more elaborate arrangements have been proposed but none of these overcome the basic problem of the system above.
It is now proposed, according to the present invention, to provide a carrier for supporting panelling, the panels of which each have a main panel portion with an inturned side portion on each of two opposite sides, one side portion having at its free edge a rim turned towards the other side portion, and the other side portion having, at its free edge, an arm turned away from the one side portion, said carrier comprising an elongate body securable to a support structure, at least one body portion on said body, a plurality of lugs on each body portion; the lugs being arranged in pairs, with the pairs of lugs being longitudinally spaced from one another and with the lugs of a pair being laterally spaced one on each body portion, the first lug of each pair being substantially rigid and including a tongue spaced from a surface on the associated body portion to accommodate the rim of one panel and the arm of an adjacent panel, the second lug of a pair being mounted on at least one body portion, to hold the arm and rim of adjacent panels against the tongue of the first lug.
Such a structure overcomes the difficulties indicated above, insofar as the rigid first lug of each pair takes up the load of panels and it does not get subjected to any particular high forces during insertion and removal of the panels. The provision of the second lug of each pair which is laterally spaced from the first lug of that pair, ensures that the arm of one panel and the rim of the adjacent panel are together held against the rigid lug respectively. The second lug may be resilient to allow the panels to be inserted but in a preferred construction they are rigid and the inherent resilience of the panels will permit flexing thereof to allow the panels to be inserted and retain the panels held against the first lugs.
In a preferred construction the lugs are arranged in two substantially parallel longitudinally extending rows and the lugs in each row are preferably alternately of one type and of the other type. Two rows of lugs of each type may also be provided in "double pairs", the lugs of a pair being different or the lugs of a pair being the same but different from the other pair.
The body may take many forms. For example it may be simply the upright of an L with a body portion providing with this upright an L-shaped cross-section.
Another form of carrier is of generally inverted, V- or U-shaped cross-section or of T-shaped cross-section, there being two legs forming said body portions either forming the arms of the T or the upstanding sides of the V or U and diverging away from one another. When the second lugs are rigid, the inverted V- or U-shaped cross-section carriers may have flanges provided with the lugs and forming part of the body portions to give added resilience to the carriers to further enable the panels to be mounted and demounted. The body and flanges may be formed from a single flat sheet by rolling.
Whichever form the carrier takes, the lugs are advantageously formed by punching out of the associated body portion whereby they include a connecting portion and tongue, and preferably, but not exclusively, for the first lugs, both the connecting portion and tongue are provided with a reinforcing rib.
The second lugs may be punched out of the associated body portion whereby they include a connecting portion and a leg, the leg being engageable with the arm of a panel to urge it towards the tongue of the associated first lug.
With this arrangement the leg may have adjacent to, but spaced from its free end a projection which is adapted to engage behind a bead formed on the arm of a panel. This bead will be held in engagement with the connecting portion of the first lug by the projection which will make removal accidentally more difficult. Thus the projection and bead form a type of latch which holds the panels in place. To "hold" comprising: `urging`, `touching`, or `with some play`.
The leg of the second lug of a pair may extend from its connecting portion in the opposite direction or in the same direction to that which the tongue of the first leg of that pair extends.
The invention also provides a panelling system comprising panels which each have a main panel portion with an inturned side portion on each of the two opposite sides, one side portion having at its free edge a rim turned towards the other side portion and the other side portion having at its free edge an arm turned away from said one side portion, a plurality of carriers each comprising an elongate body securable to the support structure, at least one body portion on said body, a plurality of lugs on said body portion, the lugs being arranged in pairs with the pairs of lugs being longitudinally spaced from one another and with the lugs of a pair being laterally spaced the first lug of each pair being substantially rigid and including a tongue spaced from a surface of the body portion to accommodate the rim of one panel and the arm of the adjacent panel, the second lug of a pair being mounted on the body portion to urge the arm and rim of adjacent panels against the tongue of said first lug.